2004 Softball Season
The 2004 softball season for the women's varsity team saw them go 37-17, including 20-6 in the Southland Conference and 19-4 at home, UTSA's third best ever overall and home records and fourth best ever conference record, as of 2012. Narrative Division I Records Set UTSA was the best power-hitting program in the country this year, leading all NCAA Division I programs in slugging percentage, total home runs, and home runs per game. It would go on to threepeat, leading the country in slugging percentage for the next two years, an achievement only matched by Arizona from 1993-1995. UTSA's would also lead nationally in home run totals during those years and in home runs per game four years in a row (2003-2006), achievements matched by no one. It was also the most improved team in Division I, improving by 22.5 games. UTSA's team slugging percentage of .582 ranks 16th (tied with one other team) all-time. Its mark of 101 home runs ranks 15th, with its 2005 (103) and 2006 (105) marks ranking 11th and 9th, respectively. UTSA became only the second program to record 100+ homers in a year, the other being Arizona. Arizona took 72 games and 69 games in its two 100+ HR seasons; UTSA only took 54. UTSA's home runs per game (1.87) was the highest all-time over Arizona's previous 1.83, well above 2004's second highest at 1.56 (Jacksonville State). This record currently ranks 5th but was not broken until 2006 by UTSA and not broken by another program until 2009. UTSA's improvement over the previous year's record is in a 5-way tie for 11th best all-time. Against Texas Southern One reason for UTSA's immense offensive success was scheduling three games against HBU Texas Southern University. UTSA outscored TSU 63-1 in these games. (It should be noted here that due to mercy rules, each game was stopped short by two innings.) The first two games came in the form of a double-header on April 1 at home. Before the game, rival Texas State University held the NCAA record with 8 home runs in a 2002 game against SFA. UTSA tied this record in the first game and again in the second game. This is currently 4th all time, with College of Charleston also achieving the feat in 2007. UTSA got 47 total bases in the first game and 45 in the second, 12th and 13th highest all time, achievements only bested twice since then, once by UTSA later in the season. Since UTSA was the home team and was ahead, the bottom of the final inning was not played; UTSA did all of its damage in each game in 4 innings. UTSA played Texas Southern again on April 8, but on their home field. This proved to be beneficial as UTSA would get to hit in at least 5 innings. Consequently, the game set even more records than the previous two combined. UTSA got home runs from three consecutive batters, then a record and later matched only 6 times. This mark would be increased to 4 by three schools, including the 2011 Roadrunners against rival Texas State. No school had ever gotten 4 home runs in an inning, but UTSA got 5 in the 5th and final inning. (Backup catcher Jessica Ellison actually hit her only two homers of the season in this inning.) This mark took 5 years to be matched, but has been accomplished 4 more times by 3 more schools. Probably the most coveted record that the Roadrunners captured on the day was home runs in a game with 10. This has only since been tied once (four years later) and has never been beaten. UTSA's 64 total bases in the game tied a mark set in 1990 which still stands. The 13 runs UTSA scored in the fifth inning is tied for 13th all time with 7 other schools. UTSA was the fourth program to accomplish this. Its 28 hits in the game is tied for 8th best all time, being the 4th school to achieve this. Its 25 RBIs ranks in a 4-way tie for 18th place."NCAA Division I Softball Records Through 2012". NCAA Softball. Retrieved December 8, 2013. Individual Achievements Christy Brownlee's 0.41 home runs per game was tied for 5th all time and was tied for 17th all time through the 2012 season. Jessica Rogers was the hardest batter to strike out in the NCAA this year, having 4 strikeouts on 177 at-bats. Schedule Statistics Pitching Batting References Category:Softball Category:2003-2004 Athletics Category:2003-2004 at UTSA